


Love Thy Neighbor (Secrets on Arkadia Lane)

by jaykw2614



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Mystery, desperate housewives au, will add more characters, will add more tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-06-22
Packaged: 2020-05-16 08:41:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19314616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaykw2614/pseuds/jaykw2614
Summary: Luna decided to try again. “Look, I’m just going to ask you one last time… Are you sure about all this?” Still Lexa remained silent. “It’s not too late to back out. You don’t owe him anything Lexa.”“I know I don’t. That’s why I’m not doing this for him…I’m doing this for her.” Lexa returned her gaze back out the window. “And I’m getting closer.”Lexa, still with her eyes trained on the lives outside her window, let out a breath and then spoke calmly to herself."Time to get to work."OrArkadia Lane has just received it's newest addition to the friendly little cul-de-sac. But this new neighbor comes with secrets and may just unfold everyone else's in the process of exposing the truth they're after.





	Love Thy Neighbor (Secrets on Arkadia Lane)

**Author's Note:**

> I know I probably have no business posting a new story when I'm struggling with the one I'm currently working on, but this is a story I've been planning out for a while and was somehow able to write out the first chapter. 
> 
> This is my own version of a Desperate Housewives AU. For any of you who remember that show, the main story-line from the first season is my focus, but I will be using some original plot. I used to watch that show almost religiously and Mike & Susan were hands-down my favorite couple. Clarke & Lexa are modeled after that relationship.
> 
> I'm posting this on purely a trial basis. I'd like to see if this generates any interest before I decide whether or not to continue, so please let me know what you guys think or it will just get deleted.
> 
> Enjoy!!

\--

Clarke checked her watch for the umpteenth time in five minutes. She didn’t understand why she was still surprised after a year of being in this exact same position time and time again for the last year or so. She was just glad that Aden was taking his time getting everything he needed; almost like he knew that there was no rush. Car after car drove past the two-story, modern craftsman home that sat on the west side of the cul-de-sac that was Arkadia Lane, but none of them were the car in question. For the final time, Clarke lifted her hand to check the time on her phone but before she could register what the clock read, a cherry red 2017 Dodge Challenger pulled up along the curb directly in front of the house.

Fighting the strong urge to roll her eyes at the obvious automotive manifestation of a premature midlife crisis, Clarke stood up from her seat on the porch steps and slowly walked down the pathway towards the street to meet the driver.

“You’re late…” She said, not even bothering to try and hide the annoyance in her tone, because honestly, what was the point? “…again.”

Finn, her ex-husband for the past year and a half (thankfully) let himself into the yard through the white picket fence and made his way towards her up the pathway. Hearing her comment and reading her facial expression that seemed permanently etched upon her face wherever he was concerned, he rolled his eyes. “Don’t start.” They both came to a stop when they were about five feet away from one another. Finn put his hands in his front pocket. “Aden ready?”

Clarke folded her arms in front of her chest in a move of subconscious protectiveness. “He’s grabbing his things; he’ll be down in a bit.” She took a quick glance of the man she married almost six years ago, wanting to ensure that he was going to be alright taking their son for the weekend as per the custody agreement. “Do you have anything planned for the weekend?”

Finn just shrugged as though it were any other non-essential question. “Not really.” He let out. “I was just gonna see where the day leads us and go from there.”

‘Typical’ Clarke thought to herself. As happy as she was to be rid of the man that caused her so much pain, heartbreak and dissatisfaction, she wished she could have spared their son from the same fate which is damn-near inevitable. “Well there’s a new astronomy exhibit at the Science Museum, he’s been talking about it non-stop. You should take him.” She didn’t relish the idea of helping Finn win any brownie points with Aden because in her mind, he should know enough about their son to plan out what their assigned weekends would entail. Besides… he should earn it on his own and her telling him what he liked felt like cheating in a way.

Finn let out a sigh and threw his head back in absolute irritation. “Ugh, that crap is boring as hell. How ‘bout you take him there next weekend? You’re better with that stuff anyway.”

“It doesn’t matter if it’s boring to you. Aden likes it. The whole point of you taking him for the weekend is to spend time with him doing things he likes.”

“Then I’ll take him to a football game or something.”

“He doesn’t even like Football, Finn!” How could this man be such a moron and not know a damn thing about his own son? “He likes Baseball or Soccer or Hockey.”

“Fine!” Neither one of them seemed to notice or care that their voices were raising with each sentence they spoke, and their argument could be heard by their immediate neighbors and possibly beyond. “Then I’ll take him to one of those, but I can’t sit through any more museums or art galleries. I went through too many when I was trying to score with you, I’m not doing it again.”

This time, Clarke didn’t fight it, she rolled her eyes so fierce that they practically spun completely around in the back of her skull. In the seconds it took to do so, she wondered how the hell she ever felt love for the man standing before her. “Finn, I swear to god, if you disappoint my son because you’re too much of a self-centered asshole to actually treat him with the least bit of decency, I’ll change the custody agreement so that you never see him.”

Finn scoffed at what he so arrogantly thought was a hollow threat. “Jesus Christ, Clarke. Don’t be so dramatic.”

“Oh, you haven’t seen dramatic yet.” Clarke’s inner mama-bear was starting to manifest itself and if it was entirely released, well… ‘hell hath no fury like a mother’s son scorned’.

It was Finn’s turn to roll his eyes again. All it did was make Clarke want to claw his eyes out. “Whatever.”

Before their argument could go any further, a set of footsteps could be heard descending down the stairs through the open front door behind Clarke. Within a few seconds, the adorable blonde nine-yearold was approaching his parents with a back-pack on and a small duffle slung over his shoulder. For the sake of his mother, he pretended he hadn’t heard the ‘aggressive conversation’ they were having all the way from his bedroom. Aden knew that his mom hated the idea of him witnessing her losing her cool when he was around.

Aden came up to stand by his mother, feeling the tension between his parents and reading their facial expressions.

“Hey buddy!” Finn said plastering on a fake smile to keep up appearances. “You ready to go?”

“Yeah.” Aden said still looking back and forth between them. “Are you guys fighting again?” He decided to just come out and ask.

“No!!” They both shouted in unison. The only time in who knows how many years they ever agreed on anything.

“No, of course not.” Clarke said wanting to put him at ease. “We were just talking.”

Finn reached down to grab Aden’s duffle bag. “I’ll go put this in the car while you say goodbye to your mom.”

As Finn made his way back towards his car, taking Aden’s duffle bag with him, Clarke turned to her son and crouched down in front of him. “Alright, sweetie.” She smiled as she always did when she laid eyes on his angelic face. “You have everything? Your inhaler?”

Aden nodded. “Yeah. I have it.”

“Well if you find that you forgot something you can just call me.”

He gave another nod. This had become somewhat of a routine between them whenever he was scheduled to go to his father’s. “Got it.”

“And remember, if you get upset or you’re not having any fun you can call me whenever you want and I will come pick you up, okay?” It’s not that Clarke was an over-bearing mom or even a smothering one, but Aden was her only child, her baby boy and she was going to miss him like hell over the next three days. She hated having to say goodbye to him even if it was in the morning before he went to school. Clarke was incredibly protective of her baby, especially when he needed protecting from his own father. She knew better than anybody just how much of an immature, self-centered jackass her ex-husband could be and more than anything she wanted to shield Aden from ever having to be subjected to it.

“I know, mom. But I want you to have a good weekend. Try and relax.” It was safe to say that Aden didn’t get his ability to care so deeply from Finn.

Clarke’s smile grew a bit bigger. “You’re such a sweet boy. I love you, you know that?”

“I do, because you tell me all the time.” He joked.

“Well I just want to make sure you never forget it.”

“There’s no chance of that. I love you too.”

Clarke leaned in bringing her forehead to his, giving him an eskimo kiss. “Alright baby, I’ll see you on Sunday. Have fun with your dad.”

Aden shrugged. “I’ll try.” They both chuckled before Clarke gave Aden one last kiss on the cheek and a hug, then watched him walk down the front path to get into his father’s car.

Clarke waved after them, watching the car drive down the road and turn around the corner. With a final sigh of acceptance that she would have to survive yet another weekend without her son, she turned around to face her neighbor’s house and laid eyes on exactly what she was expecting to see. Her best friend, Octavia Blake, standing in her yard of the house directly next to her own.

Living on this street was a blessing. Each and every single one of her closest friends lived in one of the houses in the cul-de-sac. To most people it seemed strange but for them it was absolute perfection. It was even more perfect that the person she had been closest to throughout most of her life lived in the house directly next to her with her husband Lincoln and their two children Augustus and Aurora or as they liked to be called, ‘Auggy’ and ‘Aury’; both happened to be around the same age as Aden. Each was named after a grandparent on either side. Augustus, after Lincoln’s father and Aurora, Octavia’s mother.

Standing in their own front yard, Octavia and Lincoln were looking back over at her. Clarke could tell by the looks on their faces that they had heard the ‘passionate conversation’ she’d had with her ex. It was more than likely that everyone on the street heard it and would almost definitely ask her how she was doing the next time they all had dinner together.

Clarke walked over to their shared fence line with her arms crossed over her chest, meeting them at the fence as they approached it from their side.

“You guys hear all that?” She asked somewhat defeatedly, already knowing the answer.

“We did.” Octavia answered with sympathy flooding her tone. “You okay?”

“I’m fine. I just wish I could keep my cool around him, but every time I see him, I want to punch his face in.”

“I’m right there with you.” Came Lincoln from his place next to his wife. “He’s an ass and I’m glad you’re not with him anymore.”

Lincoln met Clarke when he and Octavia started dating back in their freshman year of college. He was a senior at the time but for the two of them, it was love at first sight. When he got the ‘best-friend seal of approval’ from Clarke to date her best friend, he had become a good friend to her as well. And with that friendship, came the instinctual protectiveness over her as well.

“Too bad we still share a son, so I can’t be fully rid of him.”

Octavia was about to respond with a word of reassurance, but they all had become distracted by the large moving truck that had pulled up to the house directly across the street from Clarke’s.

“New neighbor?” Clarke asked. That house used to belong to a very polite older couple that had retired and moved to Florida last fall and had been sitting vacant ever since.

“Yeah.” Octavia said remembering what her brother had said. “Bell told me someone from Echo’s agency sold it a few weeks ago. I guess all the tiny renovations they’ve been having done are finally complete.”

“Whoever it is, I hope their friendly and not weird.” Clarke said.

Lincoln nodded. “Ditto.”

Just then, a blacked-out SUV pulls up to the curb in front of the house. The driver door opens and out of it comes a young woman with wild, curly, light-brown hair pushing her sunglasses up to the top of her head. Closing the door to her car, the woman takes a step back and glances up at the house, looking it over for the first time in person.

“Holy Shit!” Lincoln says out of nowhere, looking and sounding absolutely shocked. Without warning or any other word, he hops over the fence and starts jogging toward the woman across the street.

“Babe?” Octavia calls out softly, confused at her husband’s sudden behavior. She and Clarke share a look and follow behind him.

“Luna?” Lincoln called out from the middle of the street, not knowing that his wife and her friend were right behind him.

Luna turned around hearing her name called. She looked to the man slowly approaching her and did a double take. “Lincoln? Oh my god!” Luna leaped forward and threw her arms around his neck. Lincoln was able to wrap his arms around her, hold tight and even lift her off her feet in his excitement.

“Damn, girl. It’s good to see you.” He said as he set her down on the ground and pulled away. That’s when he felt Octavia and Clarke come up behind him. “Oh, uh…babe, this is my cousin Luna. Luna, I don’t know if you remember my wife Octavia. And this is our friend Clarke.”

Luna smiled at the girls and even pulled Octavia into a hug, surprising the shorter girl. “Nice to meet you both.”

“So… what, you’re moving in?” Lincoln asked her with a hopeful and excited tone, like a kid on Christmas day.

Luna shook her head. “No, not me. This is actually gonna be Lexa’s new place.”

For the second time in less than as many minutes, Lincoln was surprised. “Lexa? Little Lexie?”

“’Little Lexie’ ain’t so little anymore.” Luna laughed out. “And if she hears you call her that she just might kick your ass.”

“I take it that means she’s back from her service?”

“Yeah.” Luna nodded with what could only be described as pride for her little sister. “Honorably discharged about a month ago. I actually asked her to head up one of my subsidiary companies; a private security firm in the city.”

“Damn.” Lincoln was impressed. “Definitely not so little anymore.” He started glancing around, hoping to lay eyes on the cousin he hadn’t seen since before she enlisted. “So, where is she?”

“Anya & Derrick are helping bring her cars over here while she heads over on her bike.”

Lincoln rolled his eyes. “Of course.” “You know her.” Luna shrugged. “Ever the rebel and adrenaline junkie.”

As if on cue, the roar of an engine caused all their heads to turn towards the source. They did so just in time to see a motorcyclist turn onto their street, followed closely by two vehicles. The motorcycle pulls into the driveway and parks it off to the side to give the movers room to work. One of the cars that arrived, a four-door Jeep Wrangler, pulled up behind Luna’s SUV while the other car, a ‘60’s era Mustang Coupe, parked along the curb across the street until the movers were all done. The rider of the motorcycle dismounted and took off her helmet, letting her Chesnutt hair fall across her shoulders and took off her leather riding jacket.

The minute the woman turned around, Clarke felt all the air in her lungs give out. This woman was somehow both absolutely gorgeous and incredibly handsome at the same time. Clarke wasn’t sure if that was an appropriate description, but her mind was too busy trying to find a proper adjective to describe her ass.

She was snapped out of her mental daydream when Luna called out to woman.

“Yo Lex! Look who I found.” She pointed over her shoulder to Lincoln.

Lexa takes her gloves off and tosses them onto the saddle of her ride. Just as Luna had done earlier, Lexa squinted her eyes, doing a double-take at the man in question. When she realized who it was, the excitement on her face matched his.

“Oh my god. Linc?” Lexa said as she stepped closer. “Jesus Christ!! It’s good to see you!” And again, just like her sister, Lexa wrapped her arms around the burly man’s neck as he lifted her up in his excitement. Their hug lasted a little while longer as it had been a lot longer since the two had laid eyes on one another.

“Man… I’ve missed you.” Lincoln said sincerely as they pulled away. He took a good look at her. “Wow. Luna wasn’t kidding. You’ve grown up quite a bit, there ‘Little Lexi’.”

“Hey… watch it with that ‘Little Lexi’ shit, I can put you on your ass before you can even blink.”

“I don’t doubt it ‘Miss SEAL Team Commander’.” Lexa chuckled at her big cousin’s ribbing. “I didn’t think you’d ever leave the service. Especially not so soon. What made you call it quits?”

Lexa took a deep breath and shrugged, having expected this question from a few people. “After ten years, it was just time for me to come home.”

“Shit. I’ll take it.” Lincoln said. He turned back towards Octavia and Clarke. “You, uh… I'm not sure you remember my wife. I brought her with me to your going away party before you left for Basic. I think you guys only met briefly. This is Octavia. Babe, this is my baby cousin Lexa.”

Octavia wasn’t sure whether to hug Lexa or offer her hand to shake. “It’s so incredible to finally meet you, Lexa. Pretty much every story Lincoln’s ever told me about his childhood starts with the words ‘Lexa and I…’.”

Lexa chuckled, thinking back to all the good times she had growing up; when life was carefree and innocent. “Yeah, we were thick as thieves growing up. And I guess as we got older, we sort of went our separate ways. Then I enlisted and pretty much lost contact with everyone… and that’s on me. I’m so sorry that I missed your wedding, I wasn’t able to get authorized leave.” Lexa quickly switched her tone from apologetic to cheery and upbeat. “But now that I’m back I hope we can get the chance to get to know one another. We are family now after all.”

Octavia beamed. “I’d really like that.” Surprisingly, Lexa pulled her ‘not-so-new-cousin-in-law’ into a quick hug. As they pulled away, Octavia remembered the blonde’s presence beside her. “Speaking of family. This is my best friend and next-door neighbor Clarke.”

Clarke was still so in awe of the Goddess-like woman standing before her, now meeting her gaze, the only action her brain could formulate was to step forward with her hand held out to offer a shake. Lexa matched her step and was now standing directly in front of her. Their eyes locked and instantly, they each lost themselves in the others.

“Hi.” Clarke spoke tentatively.

“Hi.” Lexa replied, taking Clarke’s offered hand in her own and giving it a gentle shake. “It’s nice to meet you, Clarke.”

Clarke was almost at a complete loss for words. “…Uhmm…. it’s, uh… nice to meet you too. Welcome to the neighborhood.”

“Thank you.” Lexa was able to shake herself out of her daze. “So, you all live across the street?”

“Yeah.” Octavia said turning to point out their homes across the street. “That’s ours, the blue one over there and Clarke’s is just to the left; directly across from _you_.” She emphasized the ‘you’, having noticed the immediate connection her best friend seemed to share with the newest member of their cul-de-sac.

Lexa looked back towards Clarke with small smile on her face. “Oh, that’s great.” Once again, green eyes found blue and locked in.

Lincoln chose that moment to break the sexually tense silence, interrupting the eye fuck session his little cousin was currently partaking in. He, like everyone else around them, noticed the two getting lost in each other.

“So, hey…” He began, having suddenly started to feel awkward, “you need any help unpacking?”

Lexa reluctantly broke the hold her eyes had on Clarke’s and looked to her big cousin. “Oh, no the movers are doing all of that. And between Anya, Luna, Derrick & me, directing them on where everything needs to be placed, it shouldn’t take too long.”

“Okay. Then how about dinner? You probably don’t got groceries just yet.”

It was Luna’s turn to turn him down. Her face took on somewhat of a grimace showing genuine remorse at having to decline a sweet offer on her sister’s behalf. “Actually, Linc… we’ve got a dinner meeting with a client. Sorry.”

Lincoln just shrugged, he understood. “All good. But don’t think you’re getting out of a homecooked meal. We’ll just raincheck it.”

“Absolutely.” Lexa replied with enthusiasm.

Lincoln turned to Octavia & Clarke. “Y’know, it’s been a while since the last block party. Why don’t we organize something this weekend to welcome her to the street?”

Octavia’s eyes lit up like fireworks at that idea. “Yeah! That’d be great!” She turned to Lexa. “Only if you don’t mind. We wouldn’t want to overwhelm you.”

“Not at all,” Lexa shook her head, “that sounds awesome. I’m eager to get to know everyone.”

“Then it’s done. How’s Sunday? Too soon?”

“Sunday is perfect.”

“Great!” Octavia nearly shouted. “I’ll get started on the planning.”

Before they could discuss it further, the supervisor of the moving crew called out towards them from the top of the driveway. “Lieutenant Commander James!” They all turned to see a big burly guy with long blonde hair and a thick mustache holding a clipboard. Lexa chose this specific moving company because the owner and founder was a military man who hired other retirees from all branches to work for him. They offered a pretty sizeable discount for any clients that had also served and were respectful enough to refer to any & everyone by their ranking title. “My guys could use your direction with the unpacking!”

“I’ll be right there!” Lexa called back to him before turning back to Lincoln, Octavia & Clarke. “Sorry, I got to cut this mini family reunion short.”

Lincoln waved off her apology. “Totally fine. You do what you gotta do. And we’ll let you know about Sunday.”

“Sounds good. Glad I’ll be living next to family.” She told him, leaning in for a hug with him, followed by Octavia. “It was good to see you Octavia.” She then turned to Clarke. “And it was really nice meeting you, Clarke.” For the final time, Lexa held her hand out to shake.

Clarke reaches out hers as well, once again the two share an intense gaze. “It was really nice meeting you too, Lexa.”

Luna watched her sister and the blonde eyeing each other, but after the ninth (or so) time, she found herself growing irritated and cleared her throat rather blatantly.

“Right.” Lexa said snapping out of it, though her eyes never left Clarke. “I’ll see you all on Sunday.”

After bidding their final goodbyes, the group all turned back to their respective destinations. Lexa was already halfway up the driveway, so she missed seeing Octavia bumping Clarke with her shoulder, silently teasing the blonde for her obvious display of attraction to their newest neighbor. 

 

* * *

 

As Lexa predicted, the moving and unpacking only lasted a few hours. By sundown, the entire house was setup, almost as if it wasn’t completely bare that very morning. With the last of the crew having left as well as Derrick & Anya sharing an Uber to get back to the city, the only occupants left in the house were the James sisters.

When the sun had gone down enough, the two went out to the driveway, to the Jeep and received several cases from the trunk. They looked around to ensure nobody was outside at the time to see them before carrying in everything. Neither of them spoke, there was no need. Instead, they set the two larger cases on the dining room table and opened them. Each was filled with several handguns, assault rifles, shotguns & ammunition. The girls got to work checking them for damage, loading them and strategically placing them in hiding spots all around the house. All of the remaining weapons were placed inside a hidden gun locker that was recently installed in the wall of the master bedroom’s walk-in closet.

The next two cases were banker’s boxes, each filled to the brim with files, reports, maps, photos and various types of evidence bags. Lexa and Luna silently set those boxes in her home office, leaving the contents to be set up later however Lexa chose.

And finally, the last case was actually a briefcase. Within that, half was filled with cash; stacks of hundred-dollar bills totaling a hundred thousand dollars. The other half, consisted of fake ID’s, passports, badges and credit cards, all with different names and nationalities. Lexa set that case into another safe hidden in the wall in her office.

All boxes were officially in their rightful place. Just in time to wind down for the evening. On this night, the James sisters decided to unwind in their own way. Luna poured two glasses of scotch from the bar that was installed in the corner of the living room. Walking towards the front of the house, she met her younger sister at the window, looking out onto the street she had just situated herself in. She watched over every movement her eyes perceived even through the veil of darkness that had descended upon the supposed quite cul-de-sac.

Luna handed her a glass and joined her in looking out the window, hoping to see things as she saw them, but after years of training and an almost sixth sense this particular situation provided her, there was no comparison. They stood there, sipping their drinks and mulling over their own separate thoughts in the silence until Luna broke the peace in a desperate need for reassurance.

“Movers are gone. House is all set up.” She ventured but got not audible response. “It looks great, Lex.”

To that, all Lexa could do was hum her response, eyes still trained on goings-on of her new neighbors.

Luna decided to try again. “Look, I’m just going to ask you one last time… Are you sure about all this?” Still Lexa remained silent. “It’s not too late to back out. You don’t owe him anything Lexa.”

Now Lexa had no choice but to speak. “I know I don’t. That’s why I’m not doing this for him…” The younger girl looked to her sister. It was a look Luna had never seen on her before. It screamed determination, remorse, regret and so much more. “I’m doing this for her.” Lexa returned her gaze back out the window. “And I’m getting closer.”

Luna let out a sigh. Lexa’s mind was made up about this. The only thing she could do now was offer her support. “Well whatever you need, I’m here. Just be careful.”

Almost in tandem, the two down their drinks. Luna gives her sister a goodbye in the form of a hand placed gently on her back. And quietly, she left.

Lexa, still with her eyes trained on the lives outside her window, let out a breath and then spoke calmly to herself.

“Time to get to work.”

**Author's Note:**

> Like I said... let me know what you guys think because if it doesn't seem like people are interested, I'll probably just delete it.


End file.
